The Confessions of Artie Abrams
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and eighty-five: Artie didn't mean to let out this secret, but now it's out there...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth cycle. Which MEANS **cycle 9** is here, which MEANS... GLEE IS BACK!! YAY!_

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**"The Confessions of Artie Abrams"  
Artie  
Part of Confessions Series: Emma - Mike**

It was an unfortunate trait of his that he'd speak without realizing how certain things might come out. And in that same vein, it would happen that he wouldn't realize how certain pieces of information could travel out of reach if he wasn't careful. It had never really been that big of a problem, except for the one time…

He felt bad for what had happened because of it. He knew it was inevitable, really, but at the same time he hated to think that he might have complicated her life.

He wasn't aware of the whole sequence of events, but he was fairly certain he was at the top of the list for the people who'd let out Quinn's baby secret to the general McKinley population.

Once he'd realized how that secret had come out, that was when he'd started to connect the dots, and his part became clear. Part of him wanted to tell Quinn, but then he just thought… What good would it do her, or him?

It was a few days before the whole shot to the gut of a revelation reached Sue, and then everyone else. Quinn had gotten sick in the middle of class, and Artie had gone to stand by for her, parking himself by the girls' bathroom door. None of them would leave her to deal with this mess on her own, they did their best.

But he was the only one of their group in that class, with Quinn. And he couldn't exactly follow her into the bathroom. So after a moment, he'd looked around, and he'd pulled out his phone, sending out a mass text to the other Glee girls.

Waiting on the responses, he hesitated, then approached the door and pushed it in an inch or two. "Quinn? Are you…" Hearing her, he let go of the door and wheeled back… and hit something…

He heard a thud and a mild screech, and he turned to find what he'd hit was someone… "Jacob… I didn't see… Are you ok?" The boy stumbled back to his feet, straightening his clothes, glasses, a little shaky after the hit.

"Yeah, my hair broke my fall," he spoke awkwardly. After a moment, Artie realized he must have been standing right behind him, while he stood at the door, listening in rather than being aware that the chair could roll right into him at any moment.

"Were you…" he started, nervously.

"Is that Quinn Fabray in there?" he indicated, with a look of high curiosity in his eyes. Before Artie could reply, his phone buzzed at an incoming text.

"I don't keep track of the goings on of the girls' bathroom," he spoke absent-mindedly as he read the response and sighed. "Brittany…" he muttered under his breath. He looked back to Jacob. "Shouldn't you be in class?" he tried to have some authority in his voice, hoping he would run away. But the draw of gossip seemed to counteract that effect.

"Is she…" he started to ask, as Artie's phone sounded again, and he jumped on the opportunity, holding up a finger. He looked at the message and breathed in relief. Tina was coming… now he just needed to get Jacob away from there and hope he'd forget the whole event, wouldn't figure it out.

"I should get back to class," he moved away. "Maybe you should go to the nurse, your legs are still shaking," he made to sound concerned. As he'd hoped, Jacob trailed after him. He was just about ready to grab on to his wheels and speed out of there if need be.

"Is she pregnant?" Jacob finally said it, and Artie almost lost control of his chair. "It's Finn's isn't it?" Jacob carried on, on high alert now. Artie could see he was approaching class, he just had to get there…

"Well, that's me, see you later," he hurried before re-entering class, letting out a breath. The teacher and the rest of the class looked at him, confused. He tried to look normal as he regained his desk. He could still see Jacob out in the hall for a moment, and then the boy scurried off.

For the next few days, he had believed that he'd dodged that bullet, that Jacob had dropped the whole idea. They were in the clear, he hadn't screwed things up for her…

And then Sue Sylvester dropped the bomb, and then they figured out it had come from Jacob… They hadn't dodged the bullet, it was just coasting in wait.

He'd get this feeling in him, when he saw her crying, that it was his fault. He'd do his best to continue standing by her, and maybe he'd stop worrying about it so much. He had to.

THE END


End file.
